B'way Update: Girl Returns; POTUS Moves Up; Lortel Dates

Cast of Girl from the North Country
Credit: Matthew Murphy

April is almost upon us. That's the month when critics' datebooks are choked with openings in order to beat the deadline for the Tony Awards which has recently been announced as April 27. After two years of COVID, the awards will return to their traditional date of early June (June 12 to be precise). To complicate matters, the Bob Dylan musical Girl from the North Country is re-opening at the Belasco for 50 performances only. Performances will begin on Friday, April 29^th and will run through Saturday, June 11^th. Girl closed at the Belasco on Jan. 23 due to dropping sales during the omicron COVID surge. It's probably re-opening for such a short time in order to increase its Tony chances and jog voters' memories. The cast will return except for Marc Kudish who is committed to the new musical version of Trading Places at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. His role of the broken-down businessman with a mentally-challenged son will be taken over by Craig Bierko (Tony nominee for the last Broadway revival of The Music Man). 

To Kill a Mockingbird was scheduled to re-open at the Belasco on June 1 after closing at the Shubert for similar reasons, but that conflicts with Girl's schedule. A spokesperson for Mockingbird said it would open later in the summer.

Meanwhile, the new comedy POTUS or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Great Women Trying to Keep Him Alive was set to open at the Shubert on May 9, but rehearsals must have been going great, because it was just announced this show will open April 27 in order to qualify for the Tonys. POTUS will officially open on the Wednesday matinee because Mr. Saturday Night, starring and co-authored by Billy Crystal will open that same day during the evening performance. I know it's happened before, but I can't remember the last time two Broadway shows opened on the same day.

Speaking of awards, the Lortels, for excellence Off-Broadway, have announced they will return to a live presentation on May 1 at NYU Skirball. Nominations will be given out on April 7.

2021-2022 Broadway/Off-Broadway Schedule
March 28--Plaza Suite (Hudson)
April 3--Paradise Square (Barrymore)
April 4--Take Me Out (Second Stage/Hayes)

April 6--Suffs (Public Theater)

April 7--Lortel Nominations Announced
April 8--Beetlejuice (Marriott Marquis)
April 10--Birthday Candles (Roundabout/AA)

April 11--The Little Prince (Broadway)

April 12--To My Girls (Second Stage/Kiser)
April 13--Harmony (Museum of Jewish Heritage)
April 14--American Buffalo (Circle In the Square)

April 14--Mrs. Doubtfire re-opens (Sondheim)

April 17--The Minutes (Studio 54)
April 19--How I Learned to Drive (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)

April 20--for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Booth)

April 21--Hangmen (Golden)
April 23--Wedding Band (TFANA/Polonsky Shakespeare Center)
April 24--Funny Girl (August Wilson)
April 25--The Skin of Our Teeth (LTC/Vivian Beaumont)
April 26--A Strange Loop (Lyceum)

April 27 (matinee)--POTUS or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Great Women Trying to Keep Him Alive (Shubert)
April 27 (evening)--Mr. Saturday Night (Nederlander)
April 28--Macbeth (Longacre)

April 29--Girl from the North Country re-opens (Belasco)
April 30--The Bedwetter (Atlantic Theater Company)

May 1--Lortel Awards (Skirball Hall)

May 3--Tony Nominations Announced

May 17--Golden Shield (MTC/City Center)

June 1--To Kill a Mockingbird re-opens (Belasco) (???)

June 2--what the end will be (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

June 12--Tony Awards (Radio City Music Hall)
July 21--The Kite Runner (Hayes)

Summer 2022--Richard III; As You Like It (Delacorte)

Nov. 10--Kimberly Akimbo (theater TBA)

Fall 2022

1776 (Roundabout/AA)

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical

Between Riverside and Crazy (Second Stage/Hayes)

the bandaged place (Roundabout/Underground)

2022

Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death, Cinderella, The Ohio State Murders, The Piano Lesson

2022-23

Black Orpheus, Dancin', Pal Joey, Square One

Winter 2022-23

The Wanderers (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

2023 and Beyond

Game of Thrones, The Great Gatsby

Future--Our Town; Death of a Salesman; K-pop the Broadway Musical; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; Smash; Some Like It Hot; Soul Train; The Who's Tommy

2021-22 Broadway Season Breakdown:

New Plays

Birthday Candles

Chicken and Biscuits

Clyde's

Dana H. (transfer from Off-Broadway)

Hangmen (previously presented Off-Broadway)

Is This A Room (transfer from Off-Broadway)

The Lehman Trilogy (transfer from Off-Broadway)

The Minutes

Pass Over (previously presented Off-Broadway)

POTUS or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Great Women Trying to Keep Him Alive

Skeleton Crew (previously presented Off-Broadway in a different production)

Thoughts of a Colored Man

Play Revivals

American Buffalo

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

How I Learned to Drive

Lackawanna Blues (previously produced Off-Broadway)

Macbeth

Plaza Suite

The Skin of Our Teeth

Slave Play (return engagement)

Take Me Out

Trouble in Mind

New Musicals

Diana

Flying Over Sunset

The Little Prince

MJ: The Musical

Mr. Saturday Night

Mrs. Doubtfire

Paradise Square

Six

A Strange Loop (previously presented Off-Broadway in a different production)

Musical Revivals

Beetlejuice (return engagement)

Caroline or Change

Company

Funny Girl 

Waitress (return engagement)

Specialties

Bruce Springsteen on Broadway (return engagement)

David Bryne's American Utopia (return engagement)